“It Was Rape Speak” and “Gaslighting”

Keira Knightley’s life changed forever in 2003 when the back-to-back releases of Disney’s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Richard Curtis’ Christmas romance Love Actually made her a global star virtually overnight. The actress was 17 when she made these films and 18 when they opened. Such instant fame as a teenager came at a “heavy price,” Knightley recently told the Los Angeles Times.

Throughout her career, the actress has repeatedly spoken out in interviews about how the press publicly criticized her at this stage of her career, whether through constant body shaming or being chased by paparazzi dogs. Knightley told the Times that amid her “Pirates” success, she was also “pursued by men,” and to make matters worse, she was told she deserved such behavior.

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“It’s very brutal when you’re in your teens, in your early 20s, your privacy is taken away and then you’re subjected to that control while you’re still growing,” Knightley said. “However, without this time I would not have the financial stability or the career that I have now. I had a five-year gap between the ages of 17 and 21 and will never have that kind of success again. It completely prepared me for life. Was that associated with costs? Yes, it has. It came at a high cost.”

Knightley said that her “jaw dropped at the time” at how she was treated by the public and “I didn’t think it was OK at the time.” I made it very clear that it was absolutely shocking. There was a lot of gaslighting to say you wanted that from a lot of men. It was rape talk. They know, ‘This is what you deserve.’ There was a very violent, misogynistic atmosphere.”

“They specifically meant that I wanted to be stalked by men,” she continued. “Whether it was stalking because someone was mentally ill or because people were making money from it, it felt the same to me. It was a brutal time to be in the public eye as a young woman.”

Knightley concluded: “Social media has put this in a very different context when you look at the harm that has been done to young women and teenage girls.” Ultimately, that’s what fame is: being publicly shamed . A lot of teenage girls don’t survive that.”

Knightley’s career has included acclaimed prestige dramas such as “Atonement” and “Pride and Prejudice,” the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress. But she recalled being relentlessly ridiculed by the press as a bad actress during her “Pirates” appearance.

“It’s a funny thing when you have something that changes and destroys you at the same time,” Knightley recently told The Times of London. “I was considered shit because of them, and yet because they did so well, I got the opportunity to make the films that ultimately got me Oscar nominations. They were the most successful films I’ve ever been in and were the reason I was publicly rejected. So they’re a very confusing place in my head.”

Visit the Los Angeles Times website to read Knightley’s full interview.

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